When Your Past Returns
by ookami desu
Summary: After Weiss leaves Ruby, the young huntress buries herself in her work, taking on jobs nonstop just to stop herself from feeling. So what happens when Weiss returns? WhiteRose! Hints of BumbleBy!


**Disclaimer: **I do not own RWBY in any way, shape, or form. If I did, White Rose would be a thing.

**A/N:** Back with a WhiteRose fic! Been meaning to give them some love. This actually took a really long time to write. Enjoy!

* * *

"I'm home..." a dark figure called out as she stepped through the front door to her apartment.

She kicked her door closed before trudging into her living quarters and surveyed her surroundings. Carefully placing Crescent Rose onto the couch, she stripped herself of her robe and boots and sprawled onto her bed.

"Home sweet home..." she uttered to herself.

Home was a small studio apartment with the bare necessities needed to not look empty. Her bed was pushed against the furthest wall from the entrance. Adjacent to the entrance was the kitchen, with her couch in front of the kitchen bar/separator, and a TV sitting a few feet away across from it.

_Bzzt bzzt bzzt_

A hand stretched out to silence the offending object.

"Ruby," she answered.

"Hey sis! How was work?"

"Yang..." a groan was released.

"So... work... how was it?"

"I appreciate the thought, but you don't have to call every time I come back from a mission, you know. I did fine. I'm doing fine."

"I know you can take care of yourself, but I worry, ya know. It's what big sisters do. We worry."

"I'm fine."

"Are you free this weekend? You just came back from a mission, so you shouldn't have another one for at least another three days, right?"

"No, I do. I leave tomorrow."

"How long?"

"I don't know. I'm told there's massive grim activity. No concrete numbers right now though... might be weeks."

"Maybe we can meet up for breakfast or something right before you leave then?"

"I leave early. I might skip breakfast. You know me. I like to sleep in if I can."

"I haven't seen you in months, Ruby. And the last few times I did, you only stayed for about fifteen minutes before you bolted off again."

"I'm sorry, Yang. I'll try to make time to see you more often, I promise. But right now, I have a lot on my plate. I'm leaving at six tomorrow. I doubt breakfast will happen. I have to go. It's past midnight and I should get some sleep before I head out to fight monsters."

Without waiting for Yang's response, Ruby ended the call with her sister, letting loose a long sigh as she did so. She was tired. She was very tired. But she rather felt tired if it meant all her other emotions dulled.

She didn't want to think. She didn't want to feel. She just wanted to do; to work. Her job as a huntress helped with that a lot. She requested to be put on missions continuously because she didn't want a moment to herself. She just needed to make sure her mind never wandered too far from her duty; her job.

- 0 -

"How was she?" a cat-faunus emerged from under the bedsheets and reached for her blonde-haired lover.

Throwing her arms around her girlfriend, Yang answered, "Still broken; still putting up that stupid facade that she's okay and is simply career-oriented."

"I wonder if there's anything we can do to help the healing process."

"You're a kitten, Blake, but this is something she has to get over herself."

"You just love using those nicknames for me, huh? Just because I'm a cat-faunus doesn't mean that I actually exhibit-"

Yang started to scratch the area behind Blake's cat ears, causing the other women to stop mid-sentence and purr at the action.

"I'm sorry, what was that? Your kittiness was too distracting," Yang teased.

"Hush you," Blake replied with reddened cheeks as she sunk further into her girlfriend's embrace.

"But you're right. Not only has Ruby not gotten better... it feels like she's getting worse. She's withdrawing from everyone and overworking herself. And when I spoke to her on the phone, she sounded really tired."

"Can you blame her? After what Weiss put her through..."

"Yeah... I know. I just wish there was something I could do. I don't like not being able to help."

"Why don't you go visit her at her apartment tomorrow before she leaves for another mission?"

"You mean, like the last few times I tried? She said she has another one tomorrow and will be leaving at six... so that means... what? Three or four, I think?"

"In the morning?" Blake asked, incredulously.

"Yeah... in the morning."

"No! Absolutely not," the raven-haired faunus shot up. "No! Yang, she just got back. Her body is tired and unrested. She can't do another mission. _Again_. Not with the state she's in."

Sitting up, Yang leaned forward. "So what do you suggest I do? Go over to her apartment now, kidnap her, and call in to say she's sick and can't go?"

"That would be preferable."

"That wouldn't work," Yang replied, frustrated. "You know it. I know it. Hell, even Ruby knows it. That's why she's doing it."

"It's worrying..."

"I know..."

- 0 -

"_Watch it, you dunce!"_

_Using her semblance, Ruby scrambled to catch all of the papers flying around her and Weiss. When she collected the least leaflet, she handed the stack back to her girlfriend._

"_Weiss! Sorry. I'm really sorry. Are you okay?"_

_Dusting herself off after getting up from being almost-trampled by her girlfriend, the white-haired heiress snatched the papers from Ruby. Then, wordlessly, she began continuing off in the direction she was headed: her dorm._

"_Weiss?" Ruby squeaked as she ran after the other girl. "Weiss, are you mad? I said I was sorry."_

_The heiress shifted the stack of papers onto one arm so that she would have a free hand to unlock the door, but found that her girlfriend has unlocked and opened the door for her to pass through. She took one glance at the other's hopeful expression before turning away and walking through._

"_Oh, come on, Weiss! Please stop ignoring-"_

"_Ruby Rose!" she injected. "How many times do I have to tell you to _be careful_ when using your super speed? You knocked me over and _almost_ trampled me!"_

"_I know, I know. I'm sorry. I'll be more careful."_

"_But you _never_ do! It's one thing if that was the first, second, or even third time. But it happens at least once a week! You're not even trying!" Weiss stomped, showing how angry she was. "Why do you even need-"_

_Weiss's tirade was interrupted when her other two roommates entered the room._

"_Whoa! Weiss is at it again?" Yang asked right as she walked in._

"_Remember our agreement, dear Weiss. You wouldn't want to be penalized, would you?" Blake smirked._

_The agreement the raven-haired girl was referring to was a consensus they all concocted in order to keep peace amongst every the member of the team. In particular, what it meant for her was that she was not allowed to yell at their team leader over menial things. Much to her chagrin, the group has voted "knocking over and (almost) trampling" as menial._

"_Argh!" Weiss stomped her foot again before glaring at the cat faunus. Then, she turned her attention to her girlfriend, causing Ruby is visibly flinch. In one quick move, she reached forward and yanked Ruby in by her cape, crushing her lips against the other's and kissed her _hard. _When her anger was sufficiently satiated, she pushed the other girl away and calmly stalked back to her bed, leaving two pairs of very wide-eyes and one pair of confused and shocked ones. _

"_W-Weiss?" Ruby asked, after touching her bruised lips._

"_Try harder," was her reply._

_The look Weiss gave her took away all thoughts and she could only squeak out a response as she nodded her head furiously._

_...But that kiss was hot, so maybe she should mess up a few more times._

- 0 -

"Ugh," Ruby groaned as she found herself awake. "Stupid dreams," she mumbled to herself.

She slowly sat up on her bed and rubbed her eyes. When she checked the time, she noted that it was just after three in the morning. Deciding that she was up anyway, she proceeded to take a cold shower to wake herself completely so that she was sharp enough to tackle on another day. Her movements were routine, almost mechanical, as she filled magazines with ammo after realizing from her inventory check that she was short. Then, after making sure she had everything she needed, she took one last glance at her apartment and walked out the door.

- 0 -

"She's not picking up," Yang said after the nth try. Putting her phone down, she stirred her coffee a bit before taking a sip. "Keep getting voicemail, so I think she's already on the road."

"But it's not even four yet," Blake sighed.

"This is getting out of hand. Even if I assume she slept in to the absolute latest that she could, if she's gone by now, then that means she got about three hours of sleep, at most!"

"Damn insomnia..."

"And she's going on a _mission_. She's going to go fight monsters. A lot of them! She won't be alert enough!"

"Yeah... we mentioned that last night. Are you... okay?" Blake eyed her girlfriend warily, noting the vast difference in her demeanor between now and a few hours ago.

"Sorry," she apologized, giving off a defeated sigh. "Maybe it's just the lack of sleep. How are you so calm now?"

In the past few hours since Yang last spoke to her sister, the blonde-haired huntress was not able to sleep a wink, though not for lack of trying. And as always, when Yang didn't sleep, neither did Blake.

Taking a sip of her coffee, Blake just shrugged at her girlfriend's question.

Yang let out an exasperated sigh.

She was jittery, Blake noted. And troubled. And her mind was probably running through a million scenarios a second. The loud thump of Yang's fist when she pounded at the counter brought the faunus out of her silent observation as she gave her girlfriend a questioning look.

"I can't sit still," she started moving towards the living room.

"I see that," Blake replied, following after the blonde.

"Blake," she stopped in her frenzied tracks to look her girlfriend in the eyes. "I have a really bad feeling about this. I-I can't explain it. I don't know the words... it's just this... _gut feeling_ I have. I don't like it, and I feel like... like I need to do something."

"You were fine last night... after the phone call... when we were talking..."

"No, I wasn't. Well, okay. Kind of. I was able to hide it better, but the feeling started after I got off the phone with her. And then it intensified when I couldn't get a hold of her this morning. Something... just something... about it. I don't like it. I can't describe it. I don't know. I don't even know if I'm right, but I can't sit still while my baby sister is... she's..."

Yang made some motions with her hands, her amethyst eyes pleading for Blake to understand.

"Well," Blake replied with a small smile. "Let's start by having a chat with the person who tells Ruby which missions to go on."

- 0 -

Ruby stood at the edge of a cliff as she inspected her surroundings before consulting her map. A dead end... a deadly cliff, to be exact, except the map said there was a trail there she could use. Or maybe that was a bridge? Would seem fitting, considering the location. She moved a little closer to the end so that she could peek down to see how far the fall would be. Noting that it looked to be a never-ending abyss, she shook her head as she slowly backed up.

Guess this meant she should backtrack and find another route.

- 0 -

"You sent her...where?" Yang asked, her shaking voice giving away her not-so-calm demeanor.

Her aura flared up and when Blake looked her in the eyes, she saw red.

"The Northern Mountains," the man replied, standing from his seat. He tossed the papers he was holding onto his desk when he realized that he would be dealing with an angry Yang. "And I didn't send her there. She volunteered."

"The Northern Mountains is a three day trip from here! She just got back from a mission last night! She needs rest! What were you thinking?!" Yang yelled.

"I don't know," he remarked sarcastically, staring the blonde down. "Maybe it's cause I think Ruby is an excellent huntress; someone who is so good at what she does that I've come to rely on that ability. I don't have a lot of people on my team I could trust with missions where there are a lot of uncertain factors."

"Uncertain factors? You sent her on a mission _with a lot of uncertain factors_? In the Northern Mountains? Right after she got back?!" Yang's hands curled into fists as she visibly tried to contain herself.

"What kind of uncertain factors, Steel?" Blake asked calmly, placing a hand on her girlfriend's shoulders.

When the question reached him, Steel deflated, slowly sinking back into his seat. He stayed quiet for a moment, eying both his visitors before slowly reaching for the stack of papers he threw onto his desk earlier. "When I first learned of this mission, I was given next to no details. All I was told was that there was massive grimm activity in the Northern Mountains. It was becoming too problematic for the locals there to handle on their own, so I was ordered to send someone in to control the situation," he paused in his explanation to hand over the stack of papers he was holding. "But as I have just learned from an anonymous source, it looks like it is more than a one-person job."

Yang took the proffered papers and immediately started scanning through the details, before her eyes bulged out to the size of saucers. If Blake hadn't snatched the information source from her girlfriend just in time, she would have burned them to ashes. The cat-faunus took the opportunity to read through it herself.

_Grim activity in the Northern Mountains is reported to be critical since the last successful recon. As of that time, it is confirmed that at least three packs of beowolves, two families of ursa, and a nevermore nest exists. In addition to these, there has been confirmed sightings of at least one king taijitu, several deathstalkers, and an unknown species of grimm. Attempts at recon from the last two days have resulted in failure, as the only member able to report back is currently in critical condition. At this time, there is no new information from the most recent recon trip. _

"You sent her on a sui-"

"I got that this morning," he cut in, noting the displeased looks he was receiving. "As soon as I got it, I tried to contact Ruby to tell her to wait, but she hasn't been responding to my calls. I was preparing to send some people after her when you decided to pay me a visit."

"Blake and I are going," the hot-blooded blonde announced.

"You're not part of my team," Steel countered.

"We're going," Blake cut in, nudging her girlfriend towards the door to avoid an argument. "Send your own people after her if you want, but Yang and I are still going. Let's go."

- 0 -

Ruby grunted when she was slammed against a tree by an ursa as she barely managed to shoot its head off. A beowolf gave her no time to recover, charging at her with frightening speed, claws ready to strike. The huntress jumped out of the way just in time to avoid a fatal injury, but was not lucky enough to get away unscathed. Her left sleeve was torn to shreds, and three angry scars were slowly bleeding from her forearm.

She released the cartridge from Crescent Rose, but when she reached around her belt for a fresh one, she felt nothing. Empty. Nada. She was out. Depleted. Done.

Panic slowly started to rise within her, but as beowolves started to attack again, she grounded herself enough to dance with Crescent Rose, leaving a trail of slaughtered heads and bodies.

"That's right, Ruby," she encouraged herself. "You still have Crescent Rose's scythe form. Stay strong. You didn't earn the nickname Grimm Reaper for nothing. Just... focus."

Two on the left, one on the right, and three in the back. The two up front were readying for an attack. She could tell from the way they were shifting, their eyes never leaving her form. She shot forward, swinging her scythe at them with the intention of slicing the left one through the torso and beheading the right one, but the left one jumped out of the way right in time. The right one was still beheaded, but she was tackled by another right as she completed her swing, rendering her unable to recover from the attack gracefully.

Her grip on Crescent Rose was loose in her left hand, which she found strange. When she looked down, she realized it was because her blood was trickling down from her wound and onto her hand and weapon. She scrambled back into position as fast as she could, but the tackle of another beowolf rendered her vulnerable on the ground. Using the staff of her scythe to stop the beowolf from biting her head off, she tried her hardest to throw it off.

But she felt weak and tired. And her left arm was in so much pain that it was slowly giving out. She wouldn't be able to hold out much longer at this rate unless a miracle happened.

The beowolf on top of her finally managed to whack Crescent Rose from her grip and sent it flying away. The other beowolves took that as their cue to charge, their growls menacing to Ruby's ears as she felt strong teeth digging into her flesh.

Right before her world went black, she shivered from the sudden decrease in temperature. She must've been losing a lot of blood...

- 0 -

"You imbeciles..." a voice shrieked as the newcomer crashed onto the scene, ice daggers shooting forward and piercing through any beowolf that crowded around the unconscious body. "How dare you snack on _my_ Ruby?!"

A girl with a vertical scar crossing her left eye slashed her rapier furiously until every beowolf surrounding the down huntress was either dead or gone. When she cleared the area of all threat for the time being, she rushed forward and kneeled by Ruby's side.

"Ruby!" she cried as her ex-lover was on the ground, unconscious, blood spilling over everywhere, including her white dress. "No, no, no, no, no... Ruby... come on... wake up!" She slapped her lightly on the cheeks a few times, hoping to get a reaction, any reaction, but received none. "Y-You're bleeding too much..." Ripping shreds of cloth from her dress, she tried to bandage Ruby up to stop her from losing any more blood, albeit poorly with her shaking hands. "Come on... Ruby... Answer me!"

She tried yelling, shouting, berating her ex-lover to consciousness, but was rewarded with silence. Her hands shook when she checked for a pulse, afraid of what she might find, but when she found it, the relief that washed over her felt like someone lifted a two ton boulder from her chest. Ruby's pulse was there, but it was growing more and more faint by the minute. She didn't have time to waste. She needed to bring Ruby to a hospital as fast as possible. Picking up her rapier and trying her best to balance Ruby on her back, she prepared herself to leave until more beowolves and a few ursas showed up, surrounding her.

She tried to summon her glyphs and leave via jumping through the air, except she soon realized that with the extra weight, it wouldn't be so easy. It was, in fact, near impossible, when she realized that she needed to retrieve Crescent Rose as well.

Deciding that she needed to finish this battle as soon as possible, she propped Ruby by the nearest tree and assumed her battle position. She was racing against time now, for Ruby's sake, so it was crucial that she didn't hold back. She aimed to finish this in under five minutes. Setting a countdown timer in her head, she began her incantations and hand movements. Two seconds later, a pack of beowolves howled their last breath when ice daggers rained down upon them.

- 0 -

"Whoa, is that the ice princess?" Yang asked as she neared what looked like a battleground.

Icicles were popping out of nowhere; glyphs were disappearing as soon as they appeared, leaving behind a trail of dead grimm in its wake.

"I believe that was Weiss's signature move," Blake replied as she watched the white-haired woman stand on a glyph in the air, summoning icicles from the ground to pierce the beowolves and ursas beneath her.

"Wait... why is she here?" Yang asked, landing to a stop on a tree branch. "Isn't she supposed to be running some big, bad dust company?"

Blake arrived next to her within the next millisecond, scanning the area of the battle when she spotted what she was looking for. When she did, she couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her lips. "Look," she pointed to the lump of red that was propped against a tree beneath where Weiss was. "She found Ruby."

When a beowolf made a beeline for the injured girl, Weiss rushed to intercept the attack and delivered a clean cut through it's neck, successfully beheading the creature.

"She's protecting her..."

Without wasting another second, Yang charged forward into the battlefield, followed by her faunus girlfriend.

- 0 -

As soon as the nurse was finished with her bandages, Weiss bolted from her bed and started walking through the maze of white corridors in search of a certain scythe-wielding huntress. Despite the protests she kept receiving, she continued down one long hallway after the next. She knew Ruby was in critical condition, so she knew what general direction to walk in, but she was not prepared for how far the actual walk was.

"Careful, princess," a hand shot out to help her when her legs almost gave out under her.

The support she was provided with allowed her to safely lean against the wall before slowly removing the hand from her arm. "Thanks."

The heiress allowed herself to look at the one who helped her, unsure of what to say to the person whose violet eyes stared back at her with burning intensity. A part of her wanted to look away and just continue walking, but she knew she couldn't. Not just physically. Not just because her body was too spent and tired and injured, but because she knew she owed them an explanation. She owed Blake and Yang an explanation for what she did then, what she was doing now, and why. Though mostly, she owed Ruby.

"It's been a while, Yang, Blake," she started, hoping that once she started, the momentum would lead her to where she needed to be.

"What're you doing?" the blonde asked.

"I wanted to see Ruby. I wanted to be sure she was okay. I just didn't realize what a trek it would be."

"She's doing fine. She's stable now. And this was only a five minute walk from where you were..." Yang raised a brow.

A wry smile made its way to Weiss's lips. "Felt longer..."

"Really, Weiss. What're you doing? You disappear for years and then suddenly, poof, you show up to be Ruby's knight in shining armor? What's going on?"

"That imbecile sent Ruby on a suicide mission," Weiss nearly spat when she remembered how it was that they all landed in this hospital to begin with. "She was exhausted and tired and not herself. She wasn't alert or ready for another mission. And then she gets sent to that... that impossible mission. I couldn't... I couldn't sit back and just watch it happen."

"What I'm more curious about is how you even knew about it?" Blake piped in. "About everything. Ruby's condition. Her physical and mental state. And even the details of her mission."

"I-" The heiress's attention shifted to Blake immediately. Her first response was to defend herself, to think of an excuse for knowing everything that she did, and lie to her old teammates about everything that she knew. But she stopped herself when she remembered that it was time to come clean. All of her efforts for the past few years, what she was trying to accomplish... she didn't have to hide it anymore. "I've always... kept an eye on her. Ruby is... she's special to me."

"Just like you are to her?"

"Are?" Weiss asked. Then, when she understood what it meant, a smile appeared. "Yes. Yes, I suppose so."

"So three years ago, why did you leave her?"

"Three years, six months, five days," Weiss corrected. When a smirk formed on Yang's lips, she realized her blunder. "N-Not that I was keeping count or anything."

"What happened, Weiss? Obviously, you still really love her..." Blake injected.

"You saw what happened. My father made me choose between the Schnee family and Ruby. I chose... Schnee." Weiss paused to look at both of her former teammates. "But... what you weren't around to see was the nice little chat father and I had before that."

She shifted her body so that she was leaning with her side more against the wall, one hand pressed against it for support while the other dangled uselessly at her side. "He threatened me... he threatened everyone's well-being. He was a very powerful man, so when he told me that he would make it impossible for Ruby to find work anywhere, I knew he wasn't bluffing. He said if I chose her over the Schnee family, he would ensure that none of you would be able to survive as huntresses. I didn't know how important being a huntress was to you and Blake, but I knew it was Ruby's dream. I couldn't... I didn't... I wanted to protect that."

"Ruby would have gladly given up being a huntress if it meant that you would stay by her side," Yang replied.

"I can't allow that. A relationship that was built on the sacrifice of someone's dream... I don't want that. It can't be sustainable. What if.. what if she eventually comes to hate me for it? So, I devised a plan. It was a ridiculous plan. It was stupid and selfish and it hurt a lot of people in the process, mainly Ruby. I know that, but I was convinced that however stupid and foolish it was, it would work."

"So this plan... you break up with her, play nice with your family, inherit the company, and then beg for Ruby's forgiveness?"

"Partially. My father was the reason why it would be difficult to date me, but he was not the entire reason why I broke up with her. I broke up with her because I needed her to understand that she shouldn't fight for me, not in the usual way that she does. Ruby always tackled things in a very straightforward manner. That wouldn't work with my family and it would only serve to hurt her in the long run, so I needed her to think that I chose my family over her. I thought it was the best way to protect her. That was... a very difficult day for me, because it was the day I had to let her go, even though every part of me was screaming for her to stay. And if she found someone else while we were apart... I couldn't complain. I have no right to, and I knew that."

"So what happened?"

"I've been keeping an eye on her since that day. I checked in every so often to make sure she was still getting out of bed and eating properly. I knew she wouldn't be okay with it; she'd hurt for a while, and since I couldn't be there to help soothe the pain, I wanted to at least be of some help to her when something came up. I know it sounds kind of creepy to keep tabs on someone I was no longer dating, but I couldn't stop myself from worrying about her. Ruby has always been the kind of person who gets herself into all sorts of troubles. And I know she doesn't necessarily need me to get through them, but I just... wanted to help. When I noticed that she was neglecting herself, becoming more distant and more reckless, I found myself making hasty decisions, some worse than others..."

"Like what? Leaving your cushy home to save her?"

A soft chuckle left Weiss's throat, a sound Yang didn't think possible had she not just witnessed it. "More like, leaving in the middle of a very important Schee Dust executive meeting, which was held mostly in my honor for having just taken ownership of my father's entire conglomerate, to save her."

"Oh. Ouch."

"It wouldn't look good for me, especially since I offered no explanation when I jumped out of a fifty-story window like a madwoman."

"So, everything that you worked for..." Blake started, but was unable to bring herself to complete the sentence.

"Not entirely lost. My father is on the board of directors, so he's probably furious with me right now and will probably try to strip the position from me, but I've also made a couple of friends in the last three years. Some of them are very powerful people, whose cooperation is vital to the company's continued success," Weiss answered with a smile that Blake knew was a smirk underneath. "I'm not the same person I was three years ago... I won't let him trample all over me and tell me who I can and cannot love anymore."

"You really aren't the same person you were three years ago..." Blake concurred, a small smile gracing her features.

"Yeah, you were so much more tsundere then," Yang added with a laugh.

Weiss's face flared up at that comment. "T-That's nonsense. I was never... I'm-I'm going to see Ruby!"

- 0 -

When Ruby stirred from her slumber, the first thing she noticed was how cold the room felt, except her right hand was still warm. The second thing was how much pain she was in. When she opened her eyes, she looked around the room and realized that she was in a hospital.

"Ruby! You're awake."

The voice was so familiar to her, yet it wasn't. She couldn't believe her ears. That couldn't be right. It couldn't be Weiss. Except, when she turned to the direction the sound came from, what she saw was her ex-girlfriend, standing over her, looking worried.

"W-Weiss?"

Relief washed over her face before a small frown appeared, "I'll go get the doctor."

"No!" Ruby shot out and grabbed Weiss's hand in hers, but the sudden movement caused pain to shoot through the entirety of her body as she irritated some of her wounds. She tensed up from the pain before relaxing slowly when it subsided. "Stay..."

She still had trouble believing her eyes. Weiss was here. She didn't know why, or how, or even what the hell was going on. All she knew that was she was injured and Weiss was here to see her.

She knew she should be angry with the other woman. She left her three years ago. She chose her family over her, and she was told to not bother trying to fight for her because it'd be useless. She severed all ties with her and even refused to see her after that day, no matter how hard Ruby tried. All efforts were done in vain. Regardless of what she did, Weiss never once replied to any of her pleas to see her.

But now, she was here. Of her own accord. For no reason other than to see her.

She knew she should be mad. But she wasn't. She was happy. Happy to see the woman who has never left her mind, never left her heart. The woman who meant the world to her and who she would gladly die for. That very woman was standing in front of her right now, looking at her questioningly.

"Weiss..." the name escaped her lips as she continued to stare into mist-blue eyes.

"Yes?"

"I feel like this is a dream," her hand reached out for the other's. She tangled and untangled their fingers together, watching in awe at how well she remember those delicate digits as Weiss allowed her to do as she pleased. "But this isn't a dream, right?"

"No, it's not." Weiss watched as Ruby's fingers continued to dance with hers.

"I should be mad at you. You were so cruel to me, leaving me like that."

"I know..."

Ruby stopped what she did, opting to look at Weiss when she spoke her next words. "But I'm not."

"Ruby, there's something I have to tell you."

"Me first," Ruby injected before Weiss could continue. "I have a lot of things I wanted to say to you, but was never given a chance to. So, me first."

Weiss nodded, allowing Ruby to take the floor for now.

"I know I should be mad at you, but I'm not. I've had a lot of time to myself lately, since you left... actually. At first, I did a lot of thinking, wondering why and what I could've done better to keep you. I kept thinking that maybe I wasn't as good of a girlfriend as you needed me to be, which was why you ultimately decided to choose your family over me. I went through a lot of what-if scenarios in my head, trying to understand why you did what you did and why you chose what you chose. In the end, I couldn't really come up with anything. I just couldn't... so I drowned myself in my work, because I didn't want to think on it anymore. Before you go... before you disappear from my life again... can you please just tell me one thing? Can you please tell me why? Why them, not me? Did you not... did you not really love me like you said you did?" Her silver eyes were pleading, almost teary as they stared into Weiss's.

The heiress inhaled a shaky breath before opening her mouth. "I did, Ruby. And I'm sorry I hurt you so much. I only did what I did because I thought it was the best way to protect you. My father explicitly threatened your career as a huntress if I did not abide by his rules. I am the heiress to the Schnee Corporation and you were not a suitable candidate to be my spouse. He would have done everything in his power to ensure that you would be miserable if I defied him. Not only as a punishment to you, but to show me that I can not do as I please."

"I would have gladly given up being a huntress if it meant that I could be with you," Ruby replied, eyes downcast.

"But you would have been miserable. You've trained long and hard to be one, only to end up not being able to do what you wanted," Weiss answered softly. "And I worried for your safety. He never said anything, but over the years, I've noticed that people who defy him end up dead or missing within the month. I didn't want to take that chance with you."

"I see," silver eyes continued to look down in disappointment. "I guess I can understand why you did it... when you put it that way. I wouldn't want to lose you because I was too selfish to let you go."

"I wanted to be selfish. I wanted to stay with you and be the girlfriend you wanted me to be, but I couldn't. I'm sorry."

"After all those years of training... and I still need protecting," Ruby mumbled to herself. "It's like I never grew up."

"Ruby, you know that's not true. You've protected me a number of times," Weiss countered, hoping to assure the other woman.

"Yeah, but none of that matters now, does it? Your father probably found you a line of suitable spouses to protect you by now."

A deep frown was embedded onto the heiress's lips. "He has, but I've rejected them all."

"He'll find more. I'm sure he will. Probably someone who you wouldn't feel you need to protect anymore. Not like me, right?"

"Ruby, I don't mind protecting you. I _want_ to. I don't care about all those pansies my father tried to force me to date," the white-haired woman answered, gritting her teeth at the mention of her father.

"But I shouldn't need protecting, Weiss! The whole point of my being a huntress is so that I can protect other people with my own two hands, with my own abilities. I was supposed to protect you! The one person that I cared and cherished more than my own life... I was supposed to protect you from grimm, from evil organizations who try to take your life, from your own god-damn father if I had to! But... I wasn't strong enough and the tables were turned and you were the one who protected me. I'm useless! I mean, look at me. Even if you didn't think I needed protecting then, look what I'm reduced to now!"

"But you _are_ strong, Ruby! I've heard your new nickname. It's all over the news and media. You're famous, as the Grimm Reaper. Pretty clever and probably due to the fact that Crescent Rose has a scythe form and you wear a hooded robe." Weiss tried one last time, hoping to draw Ruby out of her self-imposed misery. It was starting to irritate her.

"Not strong enough-"

"I have had it with the self-pitying, Ruby Rose," Weiss leaned forward, glaring at the other woman. "I made the decision to protect you not because I thought you were weak, but because I thought that I had to take responsibility for what I was putting you through. I chose to protect you not because I thought you needed me to do it for you, but because I wanted to! Do I make myself clear?"

Ruby simply nodded before turning her attention to the window on the opposite side of where Weiss stood. "It's been three years since we last talked."

Softening, Weiss retreated back to standing upright. "Yes, I know."

Taking a deep breath, Ruby prepared herself to ask the following question. "Do you have someone new in your life?"

"What?" was Weiss's taken-aback response.

"Well, it's been three years now. I just figured that maybe you've moved on and starting dating around again. I mean-"

"No, I don't have someone new."

"-you're actually a really good catch when you get past the cold exterior where you pretend-"

"I said I don't have anyone!"

"- that you don't care even though you really do. And then, there's all the name-calling you do, but for anyone who dates you, they'll just have to get used to it the way I did, because-"

"Are you even listening to me?" Weiss asked, noticing that this may be another one of those Ruby ranting moments.

"-when you think about it, it's actually kind of adorable how you never actually called me anything worse than a 'dunce', which most people would never really say anyway, so I've just kind of taken that-"

Weiss sighed when Ruby's continued ranting answered her question. She stared at Ruby for a few more seconds, half-listening to the rant her ex-lover was spewing before she decided to put an end to it. She took one step forward and yanked Ruby towards her by her hospital gown, which succeeded in getting Ruby to stop mid-rant. A small smirk graced her lips before she stole a kiss from Ruby. A long, deep kiss... that didn't end until they were interrupted by a nurse bursting through the door of Ruby's room.

"Miss! Miss! You can't treat Miss Rose so roughly. She's injured." When the nurse was ignored, she shouted. "Miss!"

Releasing Ruby from the kiss, Weiss snapped her attention to the person who was addressing her as "Miss". "Do you know who I am?"

She visibly gulped. "No..."

"I'm Weiss Schnee, current CEO of Schee Corporations. This hospital continues to run because my company donates a generous amount of money to it every year. So if I want to kiss Ruby Rose, even if she is injured, I will kiss Ruby Rose. And you will not interrupt me. Do I make myself clear?" Weiss's voice dropped dangerously low, as if letting the nurse know this was a warning.

"Y-Yes'm!" she squeaked, before slinking out of the room in a hurry.

"Wh-What was that?" Ruby asked, dazed.

"You are an insufferable dolt, you know that, Ruby?" Weiss started. "I don't have anyone new in my life because I don't _want_ anyone new in my life. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe, just maybe, I missed you and want you and have never wanted anyone else but you?"

"But... your father..."

"Which brings me back to square one. I told you that I had something I needed to talk to you about, didn't I? You just wanted to go first so badly, so I let you. If I knew you were just going to rant on and on about silly things, I wouldn't have let you started." Weiss gave an exaggerated huff and crossed her arms. Then, her expression softened when she saw the look of guilt on Ruby's face. She slowly uncrossed her arms as she made herself comfortable on the edge of the huntress's bed.

"I already told Yang and Blake this on my way here, but I'm here to ask for your forgiveness, Ruby. I want you back," she started softly, but her words rang loud and clear in younger girl's ears.

"W-why? What's going on?"

And so, Weiss explained everything. She explained to Ruby about her father, about her hard work to take over the Schnee Corporation, about her plans to defy her father and ask for Ruby's forgiveness. And if Ruby was willing to take her back, about her plans to move out and finally live with her. When Ruby asked, she told Ruby that she was keeping tabs on her because she worried; that she flew out of a fifty-story building in the middle of a meeting to save her; that when she found her lying in a pool of her own blood, she thought of nothing else but to ensure she stayed alive. Everything, she explained everything down to the last detail.

- 0 -

"Nghh," Yang grunted as she moved the sofa for the nth time that hour, as per Weiss's request. "Better, princess?"

After a moment of scrutiny and eying the furniture with its surroundings, the white-haired woman finally gave a small nod of approval. "Yes. Thank you, Yang."

"Weiss!" Ruby cried as she walked through the front door hugging a large cardboard box. "Where do you want this?"

"Oh! The bedroom, Ruby. Thanks for getting that for me," Weiss answered, rushing over to give her girlfriend a hand.

The two slowly made their way into the bedroom. It took them several minutes before they returned to the living room, and Yang suspected it was because heated kisses were exchanged, judging by Ruby's tousled hair.

"Finally! I'm ready for that free dinner you promised in exchange for helping you move," the blonde exclaimed, jumping to her feet the second they were visible.

"So impatient," Weiss commented.

"So hungry!" Yang corrected as she started towards the exit. "Come on! Blake said she's meeting us there when she's done with work!"

Weiss rolled her eyes, but when Ruby followed her excited sister out the door with matching enthusiasm, she couldn't help the smile that started at her lips, and ended in her eyes.

"Coming!"

* * *

**A/N:** I don't know if you could tell, but I started getting tired of writing this after a while. Hence, why the abrupt ending. If I find the interest, I might flesh this out a bit more in another oneshot, but that's all I can muster for now. ^-^;


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